This is an area where the Cougars have had some success in recent years. In the last three years, the Cougars have had seven kickoff returns for touchdowns, which is the most among Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams. They’ve also blocked 16 kicks in the last three years, which is fourth-most nationally. There’s plenty of experience with this group as well – the starting kicker, punter, kick returner, punt returner, holders and deep snappers all return. And special teams coordinator Tony Levine said that the majority of the players on his kick and punt coverage teams return as well. Let’s take a look at this year’s outlook:

Kick returners
Senior Tyron Carrier is back to lead the charge. In his career, Carrier has returned six kickoffs for touchdowns in his three-year career, leaving him one short of tying the NCAA’s career record of seven, set by C.J. Spiller (Clemson). Naturally, he’ll be the guy this season. What remains to be seen is who will be paired with Carrier on kickoff returns. Three names Levine floated were Jeffery Lewis, who spent some time doing it last year, Isaiah Sweeney and Dewayne Peace.

“One guy I’m really excited about is Isaiah Sweeney,” Levine said. “He had a great year last year on special teams. He’s grown up and he may be back there with (Carrier). Possibly Dewayne Peace, we’ll see. That off returner needs to be a great blocker. That’s where maybe a guy like Jeffery Lewis gets a little bit of an advantage over a Sweeney. (Lewis) is a guy that can handle the ball when it’s kicked to him but can be a great blocker.”

Punt returnersSenior Patrick Edwards ranked in the top ten nationally in punt return average last year — his 15.4 yards per return was seventh in the FBS. He’ll be the guy again to field the punts with Kent Brooks and Peace behind him. Levine is excited about the depth at this position compared to where it was three years ago.

“When we got here in ’08, we didn’t have a guy who could catch a punt,” Levine said. “Now we’re as deep as we’ve been. Patrick, Kent Brooks, Tyron can all catch a punt.”

One thing I asked Levine about was the philosophy on players doing both punt and kickoff returns. Levine said it takes two different mentalities for each.

“I think it takes more courage to be a punt returner,” Levine said. “Just standing back there and having your adam’s apple exposed with 10 guys sprinting down the field and the ball in the sky and trusting your teammates and trusting your judgment. But once you catch the ball as a punt returner, then I think it’s actually easier to be a punt returner at that point than a kick returner. There is less coverage covering punts. Guys are at different levels.

“(As a kick returner) you have your vision and you have people in front of you. But then you have 10 guys running 60 yard sprints right at you. Within both returns they flip flop (in terms of difficulty). It’s easier to stand back there on the goal line as a kick returner, but once you catch the ball, here comes the hard part. Because you got 10 guys, all on the same level, sprinting right at you.”

Kickers
Back to handle the placekicking duties is junior Matt Hogan. In two seasons he’s 26-of-29 on field goals which equates to an impressive 89.6 percent conversion rate. There have been some missed point after touchdown kicks (he’s 92-of-101 in that category) but Levine said that isn’t always solely on Hogan.

“For the extra points he’s missed, that’s been more of an operation than a kicking issue,” Levine said. “We played three different holders last year. Even when Case (Keenum) was healthy, Case would hold field goals and we brought in a different holder for extra points.”

Levine feels confident about having Hogan to go to.

“I coached a Lou Groza Award winner at Louisville, I’ve coached three other NFL kickers and Matt’s as good as I’ve been around,” Levine said.

On kickoffs, Richie Leone and Jordan Mannisto are back to handle those duties. Leone handled most of the kickoffs last year (59 kickoffs) but Mannisto had a good chunk of opportunities as well (22). Mannisto also serves as the backup field goal kicker and backup punter.

Levine likes having two guys for kickoffs to keep one from getting too fatigued.

“I never have a guy kick off more than six kickoffs in a game because kickoffs tax your leg more than anything,” Levine said. “As we start scoring a lot of points you’ll see more than one guy kicking off. I’ve seen guys kick off 10 times and blow their quad out. Or they’re kicking off in a 70-21 ballgame and then the next week the kickoffs are landing at the 20 because their leg is shot. So we keep a pretty strict count (on kickoffs).”

Punters
Leone, who’s entering his sophomore season, will be the full-time punter again. He averaged 41.4 yards per punt and placed 12 inside the 20-yard line and didn’t have any punts blocked. As mentioned before, Mannisto will back him up if needed.

“Mentally he’s exactly what you want,” Levine said of Leone. “He’s got great leg strength and great natural tools.”

Levine brought in a pair of walk-ons as well – Sam Martin from Texas City and Kyle Bullard from Boerne Champion.

“We’re going to look at (Martin) as more as a punter,” Levine said. “He’s left-footed. I’m really excited about him. (Kyle) will be more of the kicker type.”

Long snappers
The Cougars return junior Brandon Hartson, who has snapped for the Cougars special teams the last two seasons. But Hartson will have some competition from an incoming freshman, walk-on Nolan Frese of Keller. Frese was ranked as the No. 1 long snapper in the state in the Class of 2011 by ChrisSailerKicking.com and was ranked seventh nationally. Levine is excited about both Hartson and Frese.

“I’d put (Hartson) against any long snapper in the country,” Levine said. “But (Frese) is going to challenge Brandon. The best players play. When you look and see a guy that is a preseason all-conference guy, all that means is that he did good last year. That has no bearing on who plays this year. The best players play and if Nolan’s better than Brandon, he’ll be our starter. But having said that I’m extremely excited about Brandon. He’s the best I’ve ever been around and we had an NFL snapper at Louisville and I coached NFL guys at Carolina (with the Panthers).”

Holders
Levine said that quarterback Case Keenum will return to holding duties on field goal kicks while Crawford Jones will hold on extra points.

“He came in late last year and did an excellent job,” Levine said of Jones.

Field goal block specialist
This isn’t an official position on the depth chart but the Cougars have had one of these each of the last two years. In 2009, it was Fendi Onobun and last year it was Wesley Scourten – someone with height and good leaping ability that could try to get a hand on a field goal or extra-point kick. Levine said he’ll enter the fall with linebacker Sammy Brown initially pegged for that role.

Coverage teams
This is an area that Levine is looking forward to seeing because the majority of the coverage teams, both on punts and kickoffs, returns with a year of experience.

“The coverage teams are what I’m more excited about our coverage than anything else this year for two reasons,” Levine said. “One, now it’s our fourth season here and we finally have the depth we need across the board on this football team and that’s just us recruiting for the last four years. Where it’s going to show up is on the coverage teams.

“What people didn’t realize, I feel like a year ago I had a full head of hair. What happened last season is I’d stand in that huddle before we went to cover a kick and I looked at Efrem Oliphant, freshman. Austin Wilson, freshman. Zach McMillian, freshman. Kent Brooks, freshman. D.J. Jones, freshman. Shane Ros walk-on high school quarterback, freshman. George Bamfo, freshman.

“I played for Jim Wacker in college who used to say that the best thing about a freshman is that a year from now he’s a sophomore…I look at the depth chart now and I see Kent Brooks, Bamfo, Austin Wilson and those young guys, Jones, Ros, Aaron Johnson, now I’m excited because now we have experienced guys covering kicks.”